Transit agencies have begun offering their riders the ability to bring their bikes, and other accessories (“rider accessories”), with them on trips on the transit agencies' network of transit vehicles (such as buses, trains, and the like). In some cases the rider accessories are brought directly onto the transit vehicle. Sometimes there are designated areas for the rider accessories, such as bike racks on the front of the transit vehicles (“accessory storage”) or inside them. However there is a limited amount of accessory storage for a particular rider accessory (i.e. each transit vehicle has a “rider accessory storage capacity” for each rider accessory, even if it's zero or presumed to be zero in the absence of an explicit rider accessory storage capacity). As rider accessories become more prevalent, especially to assist in addressing the challenges of “the last mile” for transit riders, or last minute decisions to take transit, it is increasingly important to know, in advance whether a particular transit vehicle can (or is likely to be able to) accommodate a particular rider accessory. As such, some are attempting to connect a wired sensor to a vehicle mobile data terminal (“MDT”). While reliable for communication, these approaches are cumbersome, difficult to install, and expensive. Further existing approaches do not allow acceptance and dissemination of information related to rider accessory storage capacity (“rider accessory storage capacity information”).
There thus remains a need for a solution that addresses the shortcomings in current rider accessory capacity monitoring systems.